(with thanks to Sara Becker)

What a joy to be alive!
to feel I’ve cheated time
I’ve won, I’ve left my watch

elsewhere in a drawer, in a gilded dresser
the clipped arithmetic of my steps
gliding towards a jeweled western sky

I cannot beat the sun, the constant sun
instead, I join its distant cousins
to redraw the rules of battle

the ape must see more than pride
an emperor must have his clothes
a man must claim his god

I anoint myself with knowledge
take my calculated tumbles
my last grounding I name death

I shall die, one day, I shall die
I shall die & vanish
but ’til that day let me not forget

a god I am not but celestial I am
not a sun but the sun
I fix the stars to my measure

the golden center of all
astronomers name the day upon my waking
its close upon the resting of my lids

I have counted the revolutions carefully
I meet the planets with my joy
a grateful earth teems below

– Aaron Glover